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Egypt Parliament Election Turnout 62 Percent

December 02, 2011

The head of Egypt's election commission, Abdel-Moez Ibrahim, says 62 percent of eligible voters turned out for the first round of parliamentary elections.

More than 13 million voters cast ballots in the voting on November 28 and 29 in one-third of the country's provinces -- the first of three rounds for the lower house. Three other rounds lasting until March will elect the less powerful upper house.

Ibrahim called the number "the highest since the time of pharaohs."

The parliamentary poll is the first since longtime President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in a popular uprising in February.

The Muslim Brotherhood's political branch is expected to muster the largest share of ballots, followed by an ultraconservative Islamist party and a coalition of liberal parties called the Egyptian bloc.